Walker Hook is an Important Heritage Site

DfRu002 is the archaeological designation for the prominent
shell midden located at Walker Hook on Salt Spring Island.
This and other shell middens in the region are accumulations
of the material remains of First Nations activity
such as shellfish processing, hunting, stone and bone tool
manufacture, and ceremonial activities. They are composed
of layers of dark soil (often representing household occupation)
isolated by layers of loose shell (representing the refuse
that accumulated when the houses were moved to other locations
on the site). Intrusions into these layers are often detectable
remains of activities such as the digging of pits for roasting
or storage, or the placing of support posts for a house or
other structures, or the ceremonial internment of the Dead.
Shell middens have special soil chemistry. As shells decompose,
they produce an alkaline solution that neutralizes the acidic
soils typical of northwest coastal regions, creating favourable
conditions for bone and shell preservation. The layers, or
strata, build up in this manner over time and the shell, bone,
and stone artifacts and features they contain can be dated
using radiocarbon and thermoluminescense methods.

DfRu002 at Walker Hook is estimated to be the fifth largest
recorded shell midden in the southern Gulf Islands. In the
early 1970s, Walker Hook was surveyed by archaeologists and
its size estimated based
on surface exposures of archaeological material, but no subsurface
or other detailed investigations were carried out. Although
the length of occupation is not known, to local Coast Salish
people this is the ancestral village site Syuhe’mun and has
been used by them since time immemorial. Archaeological investigations
at other sites in the area indicate that the cultural deposits
may be as old as 4500 years.

If an archaeological site has never been scientifically investigated
and is threatened by development, the Heritage
Conservation Act (1996) requires an Archaeological
Impact Assessment (AIA) be carried out in order to assess
significance and design developments to avoid or mitigate
impacts. As such, the Archaeology Branch of the Ministry of
Sustainable Resources Management should have required an AIA
prior to issuing a permit for Sablefin Hatcheries, Ltd. to
construct their waste disposal system. Yet a Site Alteration
Permit for the initial construction was
issued without an AIA in spring of 2003. The permit stipulated
that Sablefin could dig one long trench (315 meters) and drill
four wells. Sablefin Hatcheries, Ltd. hired an archaeological
consulting firm that monitored the mechanized removal of material
from the trench by raking through the deposits after they
were dumped on the side of the trench. Eleven burials were
encountered during the monitoring. A single one-by-one meter
test pit was excavated using trowels.

Granting the initial Site Alteration Permit suggests poor
judgement on the part of the Ministry, since the shell midden
at Walker Hook was a potentially significant registered -
but virtually uninvestigated - archaeological site. December
of 2003, residents reported
unauthorized development occurring at Walker Hook. On
January 13, 2004, a representative from the Ministry’s Archaeology
Branch investigated this report and confirmed the presence
of six unauthorized wells, not stipulated in the original
Site Alteration Permit. Sablefin Hatcheries received no penalty
for their actions - and the work continued.

On January 5, 2005, the Archaeology Branch of the Ministry
of Sustainable Resource Management finally denied
Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd’s application for an amendment to
the original Site Alteration Permit which would have allowed
them
to dig more spur trenches connecting some of the unauthorized
wells to the main trench. For now, the archaeological site
is safe from further trenching and digging. The Ministry’s
legal decision did not significantly impact Sablefin’s
operation – they simply connected four of the unauthorized
wells by running pipes on the surface of the midden. Today
more effluent is pumping through the known heritage site and
Coast Salish burial ground, twenty four hours a day, seven
days a week. The pipes that now run on top of the ancient
village site reveal the workings of the waste system buried
within. Since an AIA was never completed we will never know
the possible damage done to Syuhe'mun or what could be lost
in the future.